WSOP 2012: Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann advances to Day 7

Twenty-seven players remain in the 2012 World Series of Poker. That's 27 people who this morning can still go to sleep with dreams of winning this year's Main Event bracelet and the $8.2 million that goes along with it. One of those people is Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann. The man from Munich needs to last just one more day to make it to the final table and the chance to be the second consecutive German to win the championship.

Heitmann and the other 26 survivors played a marathon day of poker that saw 70 people's dreams of making the final table end. Among those who fell was Team Pro's winningest player at this year's Series, Vanessa Selbst. After losing a race early in the day, Selbst was never able to fully recover. She busted in 73rd place, earning $88,070. While a sure disappointment, the cash pushed Selbst over the half-million-dollar mark for 2012 WSOP earnings. With five cashes, two final tables, and her second WSOP bracelet, Selbst can count this year as her most successful WSOP yet.

Meanwhile, Heitmann is guaranteed $294,601 in prize money, the most he has ever won in a live poker event. One year after Team Pro Pius Heinz won Germany's first Main Event bracelet, Heitmann is his nation's best chance at repeating. As he rushes back to catch a few hours of sleep, he can do so knowing he's bagged up more than 6 million in chips, a stack that puts him in the middle of the remaining field.

Heitmann is a talented player with a long history in the game, but many people are still just learning about PokerStars' Renaissance Man. Today, as Heitmann worked his way through the field, my colleague Stephen Bartley wrote the definitive bio on the German Team Pro. You can read it right here: Jan Heitmann: Last Team Pro standing.

Jan Heitmann

For more on Heitmann's advance and Selbst's departure, check out the rest of our coverage from the day: